He booted the laptop in the dim backstage, the screen’s glow painting his palms blue. The controller hummed when he plugged it in. He had one folder named “HOT MIX” that played like a talisman. In it: mp3s scavenged from thrift-store CDs, field recordings of subway doors and rain, and a half-remembered vocal sample — a woman laughing at 2 a.m. in a diner. He loaded them into the deck one by one, fingers moving like a pianist’s, searching for the seam where songs could catch.